Ecophysiological Responses of Three Species of Acacia - Abstract
Three species of Acacia (A .gerrardii, A. oerfota and A. origena) were evaluated for their ecophysiological behavior characteristics. Succulent, pigments contents, minerals and some metabolic products were determined. The obtained data clearly showed highest value of succulent (9.6%) in case of A. gerrardii. Concerning pigments contents, current investigation revealed high contents of both chlorophyll a (1.72) mg/g fresh weight and carotenoids (0.67) mg/g fresh weight in A. gerrardii as compared to the other two species. The obtained data recorded high content in chlorophyll b (1.36) mg/g fresh weight in A. oerfota as compared to other species. With regard to mineral composition, the obtained data show that the highest mineral percent was Calcium (3.8%) which detected in A. gerrardii followed by Potassium and Magnesium. Generally, A. gerrardii recorded highest percentages of all detected minerals. As regard to metabolic products, A. origena shows highest contents of total carbohydrates (46.47%) as well as total lipids (4.83%) as compared to the other species, while the highest crude protein value (34.77%) was recorded in A. gerrardii.